Defiance going free-to-play next month

Oh yeah, Defiance! For all its cross-media promises, neither the TV show nor its related MMO shooter made a compelling case to visit the future Earth it depicted. We've danced the dance of MMO indifference before, and so at this point know the steps: Trion Worlds have announced that the game will relaunch as a free-to-play title next month.

"We've known this transition was coming for a long time, and we've been changing the game drastically to address these issues prior to launch. Defiance was never a subscription game, so many of the issues endemic to free to play transitions were simply not an issue for us."

Subscription MMOs going free-to-play is a pretty regular occurrence, but Defiance only ever required a one-time purchase, much like Guild Wars 2. Even so, the popularity of free-to-play titles does suggest that any up front cost can be a major barrier to entry.

Defiance's free-to-play transition will take place on June 4th for PC.

Thanks, Games Industry .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.